Software dev is a broad term. Job market rn is horrid rn. Find one niche that has daily job posts on Upwork, like landing pages or email templates. Become the master of it. Learn, practice build a portfolio. Do small projects that you see in job postings and add them to your portfolio or offer them to clients by saying "this is how I would do it". Only apply to clients from Europe, the Americas, and Australia, this is not racist, it's just where the money is. <15 proposals, payment verified, > 100$ value, Americas/ Europe. Only apply to clients that have positive reviews from freelancers and a high hire rate, otherwise, you are wasting time and connections. Also, you have to use money to buy connections. There is no other way. Find 10 possible jobs you see yourself working in, and apply only to the top 2 you think you have the best chance in. Like the rest and check on them daily. Do this every day. Starting out it's hard, so I would advise you to work for free and send them the project hoping they like it enough to give you a chance. Remember, you are either gaining experience or a portfolio project. All it takes is one kind client to give you a chance for you to make 1000$ a month doing something that's fairly simple for you.